Abbott said the scams involving lawyers and others lacking special immigration law credentials have become a growing problem targeted at Spanish speakers in Texas and nationwide. The result, he said, is that people coping with immigration legal issues can face steep fees and unfavorable outcomes, including deportation.

Attorney General Greg Abbott (AP photo)

Abbott said Texas authorities have shut down more than 60 fraudulent operations involving civil cases in the past eight years, averaging nearly eight a year.

“Everything is bigger in Texas,” he said. “Unfortunately, that is also true when it comes to scams involving unlawful immigration practices.”

Abbott said a translation problem makes it easy for immigration-law frauds to lure Spanish- speaking clients in Texas.

He said public notaries, who are unqualified to practice immigration law without separate licensing, advertise themselves as “notarios publicos” — specialized attorneys in Latin America.

The U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are heading the joint effort to combat such unauthorized practices of immigration law.

“The crooks behind this scheme . . .need to be unmasked and they need to be punished,” said John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in DHS.

He said one of the challenges in combating immigration scams is that immigrants often fail to report frauds because they distrust authorities. But they shouldn’t be fearful, he said.

“The government’s going to be reasonable, you’re not going to be any the worse out for the wear for coming forward,” he said. “Some of the best referrals we get come from undocumented immigrants.”

Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees immigration into the United States, said the new initiative will educate immigrants on how to avoid scams and how to report them when they do occur.

“The primary goal is to provide immigrants with the information they need… and to remind them that the wrong help can hurt,” Mayorkas said.

Mayorkas’ organization has partnered with San Antonio and six other cities to develop the new initiative over the past 18 months. The plan includes an education campaign featuring an online resource center, www.uscis.gov/avoidscams.

It also includes brochures, posters, and public service announcements on broadcast outlets, billboards and transit advertising. Print materials will be distributed in English and Spanish, and will be published online in 12 additional languages.

The program also seeks to increase the number of qualified immigration legal representatives in an effort to make legal help more accessible and affordable for immigrants.